Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-04-28

ehnckiing laugh, indicative of hi
belief that the treasure would 500
change hands, and the four immedi
afeiy took their places. and commenc
ed contest of skill and patience, sue
as never before or since occurred il
the saloons Of New Orleans. At first
all the advantage. or what gambler
term the run of luck. seemed to b,
with Major Ryan. and pyramid o
paper aud specie grew up rapidly by
his side; hut this suddenly changed
and fortune few over to the gentle
man Of the bald head, whom the
tosssers-Ouiivd Captain suitss1, ard ssIis
enormous accumulations went on until
they threatened the rest with bank.
rnptcy, when the tickle goddess again
shifted her golden altar, and shed her
brightest smiles upon the hairy face,
whose owner was addressed as Squire
Jack. Minutes and hours flew away,
and each, by different alterations OF
triumph and defeat, had been exul-
tant and depressed, and still the game
was carried on with ever increasing
interest. 1t was a curious study to
watch the several countenances of the
players, as time progressed, without
any decisive result such as to insure
the ultimate victory. The baldheaded
gentleman seemed cool and confident
even when suffering the heaviest losses.
The hairy face wore smile of fendish
determination, and the black eyes
looked keen enough to pierce through
the whole pack of cards down to the
very bottom. Major Ryan's features
were flushed and excited, and when
ever he dealt, it might be observed
that his hand trembled nervously.
But singular to tell, the stranger
whom they had all supposed to be a
mere novice, a harmless boatman or
farmer, evinced the fewest exterior
signs denoting feeling of them all.
Not ripple or change was allow
ed to rise to the surface of his visage
from the deep sea of his soul. His
small grey eyes appeared to be made
OF ice; they gazed upon everything
with an expression so cold and care
less; and but for the consummate
skill which he displayed in every
movement, and the reckless bravery
of his bets, he might have been mis-
taken for man of marble, as passion
less, as utterly uninterested in the
final issue that was to render him pen
niless o: achieve ample riches.
With all of them, however, as the
night wore away and morning APP
preached, the energy of attention and
concentration Of the intellectual fac
ultles augmented to almost a madden
ing degree. In proof of this, it is not
necessary to state but single fact.
About an hour before daybreak, the
storm, which had been raging since
sunset, actually increased to fright
ful hurricane, that uprooted trees and
unroofed houses, and drove half the
ships in the hsrbor from their moor
ings, or hurled them wretcLed wrecks
on the shore. The electric fires flashed
incessantly, until all the atmosphere
appeared one vast ocean Of lightning,
iurid and appalling, while the thun-
der rolled as if the whole Olympian
gods were running a race with their
war-chariots over the crystal pave
ments of heaven; and one bolt louder
than the rest, in peal to ordinary
nerves nearly deafening, struck a
large tree in Bourbon street, within a
short distance Of where the gamblers
were seated, and shivered the solid
wood into fragments; and yet they
did not seem conscious Of the awful
elemental strife. Still they played
on.
The words spoken were few, most
ly mouosyllabic, aud perpetually re-
curing in the same order, such as
shuttle, cut, deal, pass. bet, ante,
&c. What to these excited betters
was the terrible grandeur OF light
ming, flags unfurled and waving in
the SKY, or the roar Of ten thousand
thunder-drums beating the march oil
the furious storm? Had they not set
their souls and staked their all on the
turning of card then why should
they care for aught in the universe
besides? Like the Romans and Car
/ thageniaus, in that famous battle
which has been immortalized in the
verse Of Byron, whose genius embalm-
ed for eternity everything it touched,
"an earthquake might have rolled un-
needed away beneath their feet" and
still these infatuated men would have
gone on with their game.